Black Stealth in Motion

[Mongo]

D4s, AFS II  600mm f4 @ f11 with 20EIII converter (effectively 1200mm), ISO 500, 1/800th, manual exposure mode, -0.7EV, tripod

[David H. Hartman]

Looks like a great shot. I looking at the photo on my cellular device. I'll get a better look when I get home.

Dave

[Yes, I like it!]

[Hugh_3170]

Mongo, a great shot and an excellent title.  It is easy to see here why the zoologists say that birds are the descendants of the dinosaurs.

[FGAng]

Wow! 

[Akira]

Mongo, you surely captured the bird.  It's not stealth anymore. 

[Jacques Pochoy]

Great blue eyes... Nice shot... 

[John G]

Hi Mongo
              A nice sense of motion.
              How big are these wetlands you visit, I,m just curious, knowing the vast spaces in Aus.
             

[John Geerts]

Lovely action.

[Mongo]

Thanks all for looking in and for your kind comments.

Akira - very cute comment - Mongo had not thought of it that way

Jacques, these cormorants have very bright emerald green eyes. It is one of their more interesting characteristics.

John, Australia has incredibly extensive wetland areas all over. This particular one is only a 40 minute drive away inside a natural Park that is adjacent to the ocean . it has a single small river/creek that feeds it. Along this small system there are areas of very small lakes that form fed by the creek water. This was a small 'lake'within this system which is only about 250 metres in diameter. Thus able to use a 600mm with converters to cover most of the activities on this lake.

With the violent wing beats, Mongo just got lucky to get the eye in focus without the wings interfering

[Frank Fremerey]

love these shags ... remember my Scotland shot "shag shaggin' shagess"?

This one looks really fast!

[armando_m]

Mongo

Love the splash of water and the intense blue eye

A complicated subject , black on black, and impressive timing ! All of that accomplished while following a bird through a 600mm lens

I wonder why 1/800 with such a focal length ? I would think you were following the bird while moving the lens , right ? and VR is doing it's thing.
Seems there is a bit of motion blur on the eye, I understand it on the wings, but the eye could be better?  perhaps double the ISO and speed

Sorry, it is a lot simpler to criticize than to do it at the moment, it sure is a great image !

[Mongo]

love these shags ... remember my Scotland shot "shag shaggin' shagess"?

This one looks really fast!

thanks Frank. shameless shaggin….

Mongo

…..I wonder why 1/800 with such a focal length ? I would think you were following the bird while moving the lens , right ? and VR is doing it's thing.
Seems there is a bit of motion blur on the eye, I understand it on the wings, but the eye could be better?  perhaps double the ISO and speed …..

thanks Armando. Good points. The best way to try and answer is to say that 1/800th would not have been Mongo’s preferred shutter speed. As you know, the shutter speed should at least match the focal length. In this case with the X2 converter , the focal length was in effect, 1200mm. In the circumstances, Mongo would have preferred 1/1600th to at least cover this. Remember that the lens is the AFS II which was the lens immediately before the VR model , so to has no VR.

You are correct to have upped the ISO but through force of habit, even with the D4s, Mongo still tries to keep the ISO as low as possible. In a stationary situation, 1/800th would have been fine but with this sort of speed in motion, it was unwise not to have upped the ISO (which the D4s could easily have handled).

It is interesting that you too thought its eye is “blue”. It is actually an emerald green. Mongo must have a closer look at the image to check the colour is producing accurately.

Big thanks for your thoughts - always welcomed.

[BillO]

Mongo,

A great action shot, all the more impressive for the black-on-black theme.

On my monitor the eye (as well as a small spot below) is also bright blue.  I wonder if it is something in the uploading process or color space(s) used.

[Mongo]

Mongo,

A great action shot, all the more impressive for the black-on-black theme.

On my monitor the eye (as well as a small spot below) is also bright blue.  I wonder if it is something in the uploading process or color space(s) used.

thanks Bill - feedback is much appreciated. Frankly, Mongo is now a little worried about the colour from what at least three of you have said. Mongo has attached a 200% crop showing the eye in larger detail. It still looks emerald green on Mongo's monitor.   Does this still look blue to viewers ??

[basker]

Mongo, I am far from being a color expert, but I have a lot of practice figuring out how my eyes are misleading me. To me, the bird's eye clearly looks green when isolated. When the bright green reflections on the water are included, it looks sort of blue to me at first, and later I see the green. Just my 2 cents, I fear I may be disagreeing with people I have enormous respect for. You probably want to listen carefully to what they say.

Excellent shot BTW.

Also, ACR said that the blue and green levels are very close to being the same, with the blue  very slightly higher.